Chapter 56 The Bigger reveal
Sussie stood there with a satisfied smile on her face, clearly relishing the shock on Noah’s face. She looked past him to where Nora sat on the mattress, still and silent as she had been for weeks.
“Nothing to say, little sister?” Sussie asked, her voice dripping with false sweetness. “Not even a hello after all this time?”
Noah glanced back at Nora, expecting the same blank stare, the same empty silence she had maintained for so long. But something had changed. Nora’s eyes were no longer unfocused and distant. They were locked on Sussie with an intensity that was almost frightening.
“You,” Nora said, her voice hoarse from weeks of disuse but filled with venom.
Noah’s heart nearly stopped. It was the first word Nora had spoken in what felt like forever.
Sussie’s smile widened. “Ah, there she is. I was beginning to think they’d broken you completely.”
“How could you?” Nora’s voice was getting stronger now, rage fueling her words. “How could you do this to me? You’re my sister!”
“Sister,” Sussie repeated mockingly. “Is that what you think we are? Just sisters?”
“You were supposed to be my family,” Nora said, struggling to her feet. Noah moved to help her, but she waved him off, standing on shaky legs but standing nonetheless. “I trusted you. When you came back into my life, when you apologized for the years we spent apart, I believed you. I thought we were healing our relationship.”
“Did you really?” Sussie asked. “Or did you just want to believe that so badly that you ignored all the warning signs?”
“What warning signs?” Nora demanded.
“The timing,” Sussie said, counting on her fingers. “The fact that I showed up right when Ben did. The fact that we both suddenly wanted back in your life after years of nothing. Did you really think that was coincidence?”
Nora’s face paled, but her anger didn’t diminish. “You used me. You pretended to care about me just to manipulate me back to Ben.”
“I didn’t have to pretend very hard,” Sussie said cruelly. “You were so desperate for family, so desperate to believe that someone from your old life still cared about you. It was pathetically easy.”
“Why?” Nora’s voice broke. “
Sussie’s expression hardened. “Because you were always the favorite. Always the one Mom and Dad wanted for Ben. Always the special one, the chosen one, the one destined for greatness.”
“I never wanted any of that!” Nora shouted.
“But it was offered to you anyway!” Sussie shouted back. “Do you have any idea what it was like growing up in your shadow? Watching our parents dote on you, plan for your future, talk about your destiny? I was invisible. I didn’t matter. The only thing they cared about was preparing you for your role.”
“So you joined them?” Nora asked incredulously. “You became part of the cult that wanted to destroy my life?”
“I became part of the family business,” Sussie corrected. “The business you were too self-righteous to accept. And you know what? I’m good at it. I’m valued here. I have power here.”
“You have nothing,” Nora spat. “You’re just a pawn in their sick game.”
Sussie’s eyes flashed with anger. She stepped closer to the doorway, her hands clenched into fists. “I have everything you threw away. Everything you were too stupid to appreciate.”
The heated argument was building now, both sisters shouting at each other, years of resentment and betrayal pouring out in angry words.
“You betrayed me!” Nora screamed.
“You abandoned the family!” Sussie screamed back.
“I wanted a normal life!”
“There is no normal life for people like us! There’s only the family, the organization, the legacy!”
Noah stood between them, his head swiveling back and forth as if watching a tennis match, trying to process this explosion of emotion from Nora after weeks of nothing.
“You helped them kidnap me,” Nora said, her voice shaking. “You helped them torture me. You stood by and watched while they tried to break me. How could you ?
“Because you’re not just my sister,” Sussie said, her voice cold now. “You’re the obstacle between me and everything I’ve ever wanted.”
“What are you talking about?”
Sussie’s smile returned, but this time it was genuine, filled with dark satisfaction. “I’ve been waiting for this opportunity. Waiting for the perfect moment to tell you the news.”
“What news?” Nora asked, though something in Sussie’s expression made dread pool in her stomach.
“Ben and I are married now,” Sussie announced, her voice ringing with triumph. “We got married two weeks after you were kidnapped. I’m his wife. The Mafia King and the Mafia Queen, united in holy matrimony.”
The words hit Nora like a physical blow. Her face went white, her body swaying as if she might collapse.
“No,” Nora whispered.
“Oh yes,” Sussie said, clearly enjoying Nora’s reaction. “I finally got what I always wanted. The man I’ve loved since I was a teenager, the man our parents wanted you to have. He’s mine now. Legally, officially, completely mine.”
“You married my husband,” Nora said, her voice hollow with shock.
“Your ex-husband,” Sussie corrected smugly. “Or did you forget that you were trying to rebuild things with him yourself? You had your chance, Nora. You had years with him, and you took it for granted. Now he’s mine.”
Nora’s legs gave out, and this time Noah caught her before she hit the floor. He held her up, feeling her body trembling against his.
“You’re insane,” Noah said to Sussie. “You’re all insane.”
“We’re family,” Sussie said simply. “This is what family does. We protect the legacy, we maintain the bloodline, we do whatever is necessary to ensure the organization’s survival.”
She looked down at Nora with something that might have been pity but was more likely contempt. “I have everything now, sister. The position, the power, the man. And you have nothing but that stone room and your precious Noah who came back to save you.”
Sussie put her mask back on, her face disappearing behind the ceremonial covering. “Enjoy your time together,” she said. “It won’t last much longer.”
And with that, she turned and walked away, the guard closing and locking the door behind her, sealing Noah and Nora back in their prison.
The sound of the lock clicking into place echoed in the sudden silence.